Of lost streams, half forgotten films and a man called Duffy in Chorlton

It is one of the things which I like about doing the blog, and that is how a post elicits a response from someone who has more to tell about a story.

So after a conversation with Tony  who lives on Brundretts Road and was interested in the story of the Chorlton's water courses, he  passed me some notes about his experiences with the Rough Leech Gutter.

This was that the watercourse which ran roughly from St Werburghs along what is now Corkland Road and then crossed close to the junction of what was the Four Banks before heading off to Edge Lane and on to Turn Moss.

I first came across it on the OS map and tithe map for the 1840s, but have found no other reference to it save a sentence in a newspaper report.

It may be responsible for the Edge Lane Lake and in its time fed into Blomely’s Fish Pond on Beech Road.  Tony believed that the evidence for it course was there in his cellar and in a dip in the road.

And once started Tony is unstoppable and has begun to see links between the building records further north which might reveal more about the Longford Brook and the many small ponds in what was once known as the Isles and is the area to the south and west of Oswald Road.

In the same way I have stories of playing in the Isles, going to the local cinemas, and a dark and sinister figure called Duffy who guarded the old brick works.

David remembered “the Clay Pits” which were “situated to the immediate east of Longford Park, just the other side of the interrupted Rye Bank Road - it was a series of mounds and gulleys, the left over from previous workings of the old brick works factory with its tall chimney.  

It was a forbidden play place and it was guarded by an almost mythical man named "Duffy"! With another 9 year old boy, I recall daring ourselves to go into this derelict building one day and even crawling under the tunnel - through rubble to a place where I could look up inside the chimney and see the small hole of daylight at the top. 

On re-emerging we continued to play until - that knowledge of being watched - made its presence felt - and we looked around to see a man who I think was called Duffy staring at us, stood on a small wall about 12 yards away. Scared witless we fled the scene, and although not chased, the memory of Duffy, the clay pits, and the old building, has played a part in several nightmares since that day!”

So just keep the stories coming and continue to fill in the little gaps in the big picture.

Picture; from the Lloyd collection close to where the Rough Leech Gutter rose